The most important sentence in the Supreme Court's cell phone privacy ruling

The Supreme Court decision of Riley v. California isn't just a landmark ruling on cell phone privacy. It also represents a dramatic shift in the high court's attitude toward technology and privacy.

The Supreme Court's new attitude is best summarized by a single sentence in the opinion. The government had argued that searching a cell phone is no different from searching other items in a suspect's pocket. That, the court wrote, "is like saying a ride on horseback is materially indistinguishable from a flight to the moon." The government has typically pursued a simple legal strategy when faced with digital technologies.

First, find a precedent that gave the government access to information in the physical world.

Second, argue that the same principle should apply in the digital world, ignoring the fact that this will vastly expand the government's snooping power while eroding Americans' privacy. In all legal precedents, the government wants the courts to ignore the huge practical differences between the technologies that existed when old precedents were established and the technologies Americans use today.

This most recent ruling suggests that when these issues reach the nation's highest court, the justices won't be so credulous. They'll recognize that cell phone tracking is as different from a bank deposit slip as a ride on horseback is from a flight to the moon.